FAQ

1. What am I consenting to with this declaration?You are agreeing to the fact that Dilimag will make one copy and/or ongoing copies of your periodical and will save it in a digital repository. You, furthermore consent to the fact that Dilimag may undertake the necessary measures for a long-term archiving of your periodical and for providing – depending on the type of agreement – unrestricted or restricted access for research and educational purposes. In order to protect possible commercial or other interests and rights, the extent of public access to the archived material can be arranged with Dilimag.

2. Will I receive a payment for my consent?No, your consent to grant Dilimag the aforementioned authorization is unremunerated.

3. Is Dilimag pursuing any economic or commercial ends by archiving and providing access to its digital archive?No, those responsible for Dilimag declare that they are not pursuing any direct or indirect economic or commercial aims.

4. Who will actually have access to the archived version of the periodical when access is limited to research and educational purposes?Those who have access permission from the DILIMAG-Archive may utilize the archived version of the periodical for teaching and research purposes.

5. In giving my declaration of consent am I transferring the copyright to Dilimag?No, you and/or all contributors to your periodical will continue to hold the copyright (and right of use, if applicable). Dilimag will only be allowed to exercise those rights which were granted to it by the declaration of consent.

6. What should I be aware of before granting access to the contents of the repository?You have to be sure that you have an agreement with all the copyright owners which allows you to make this decision. In order to avoid misunderstandings, we recommend that editors inform the authors about the archiving project and, if necessary, ask for their consent.

7. Under what circumstances would it be advisable not to grant access to the contents of the repository?If you are not the copyright owner or acting on behalf of copyright owners and if there is no agreement between you and other copyright owners that allows you to grant access to the archived version of the periodical.

8. What is Dilimag’s policy if I request that my periodical be included in the long-term archiving project, but deny public access to the repository?In this case Dilimag proceeds in the same way as for other periodicals but does not provide public access to the archived version of your periodical. This means that the long-term preservation of your periodical is secured. And, furthermore, this establishes the possibility in the future of allowing public access to your periodical after your and others’ copyrights expire. As we consider free access to knowledge sources an urgent and desirable aim, we hope that over the years more and more editors and authors will affiliate themselves with the implementation of this aim.

9. How would Dilimag handle a case in which an author objects to allowing public access to his text?Basically we archive a copied version that, if technically possible, mirrors the original as faithfully as possible. However, we have the technical possibility of hiding or removing selected pages. Measures of this kind should be discussed between editors, authors and Dilimag. It is not our desire to force anyone to be archived, but it is of utmost importance to us that we maintain a harmonious relationship with editors and authors. However, we would like you to be aware of the various large-scale digital preservation initiatives such as the Internet Archive, which are also being compiled in order to preserve cultural heritage. Maybe some authors assume that a document in the internet has a "natural" life expectancy and are not aware that its life has already been "artificially" extended.

10. Why has Dilimag asked for permission to archive this periodical?Because we consider this periodical to be a valuable cultural artefact that should be preserved for future generations. This will offer, on the one hand, researchers the possibility to reconstruct the diverse developments and trends in literary, metaliterary as well as media-historical and media-aesthetical discourses; and, on the other hand, it will ensure that access to historical sources is guaranteed to anybody interested in literature. We do not know, today, what will be significant for future generations. However, we assume that in the future there will also be an interest in consulting historical sources that were of importance to a certain time period. In order not to fix the evaluation of "importance" with subjective parameters we try to use selective criteria that are as objective and transparent as possible.

11. Which negative consequences could Dilimag’s archiving and allowing public access to the archive have on the commercial and nonmaterial success of my periodical?We assume that publishers and authors are afraid that visitors will not access the original website anymore but will access the copied version of the archive instead. We will take precautions to minimize the possibility of this potential problem, for example, by insertinge a clear reference to the original URL. For publishers of periodicals with commercial interests, special guidelines for public access in order to avoid any commercial damage will be worked out with the publishers. At this point we would like to mention the results of a survey done by Pandora, the digital archive of the National Library of Australia, which has been in existence for over 10 years. This survey, which was conducted with publishers of online magazines in 2006, clearly shows that editors had not suffered any commercial or other disadvantage through the archiving (cp. Edgar Crook: Assessing the impact of Archiving on the Archived. RLG DigiNews: Issue index: Aug. 1, 2006.) After the completion of the project phase in 2010, we will follow the example of Pandora and ask editors about their experiences with the archiving project and eventually adapt Dilimag’s approach. Furthermore, at any time, Dilimag will try to respond as well as possible to any doubts or wishes from the editors and authors.

12. Which positive consequences could Dilimag’s archiving and allowing public access to the archive have for the editors and/ the success of the periodical?Positive consequences could be the following: * a free backup that could be very useful in case of unforeseen damage * a rise of popularity as visitors of the database and the archive might access websites, which have, up to this time, been unknown to them * the long-term preservation will also help to preserve the copyrights of editors and authors even after a website has vanished from the net, as the archive will clearly refer to the copyrights and regularly update the contact details of copyright owners.

13. If I sign and send the declaration of consent (without being contacted by Dilimag), does this mean that my periodical will automatically be included in the long-term preservation program?No, because the content of the database as well as of the repository depend on certain selection criteria.

14. How do I find out, whether my periodical was accepted for the long-term preservation or not?You will be contacted by the Dilimag team.

15. What is the difference between the database and the repository?The database saves the metadata, while the repository saves the object itself. The primary purpose of the database is to record and document the various types of periodicals in the net. The only purpose of the repository is to guarantee a long-term preservation of internet sources. Users accessing the archived version will be informed that they are accessing a copy and not the original source. Furthermore, there will be a clear reference to the original URL.

As we are still in the process of building up and testing the project, we intend to adapt and correct this page whenever the need arises.